Traditional procedures of cocoa processing and occurrence of ochratoxin - A in the derived products

Cocoa beans from several types of post harvest treatments were processed into cocoa butter, cocoa powder and chocolate spread using traditional processing techniques. OTA was analyzed in two hundred and sixteen (216) samples of cocoa and cocoa derived products using HPLC with fluorimetric detection. It was found that OTA content in cocoa nibs depended only on the state of cocoa pod and the time duration of cocoa pod-opening. Cocoa beans from damaged cocoa pods and pod-opening delayed by 10 days were the most contaminated by OTA. Neither roasting using fire wood, nor shelling by pounding in a mortar could reduce significantly the OTA content in cocoa beans. Apart from cocoa butter, the other cocoa derived products also had high OTA contents. Sixty seven (67%) of chocolate spread and cocoa powder samples were contaminated by OTA, and 50 % had contents superior to the limit defined by the European Union. Because of the fragile pellicle of cocoa beans, due to damaged pods and cocoa pod-opening delayed by 10 days, the contamination by OTA was no longer superficial and shelling does not longer contribute to reduce significantly the OTA content in beans. Like with modern procedures, traditional techniques of cocoa processing do not have significant influence on OTA content of derived products. Only the raw material (quality and state of cocoa pod) can influence the OTA content of cocoa derived products. Keys words: cocoa, OTA, traditional techniques of cocoa processing, cocoa derived products ______________________________________________________________________________